New Project Update: Pine Plain Road
The finished family room design from phase one of the Pine Plain Road Project.
There’s truly nothing more exciting than kicking off a new project with a new client. And our Pine Plain Road project in Wellesley is one for the books. This Wellesley Colonial has some solid bones but the family was looking for an upgrade that will help with a more comfortable flow from room to room, modern amenities throughout the kitchen, and a centralized heating system. Working closely with the homeowners, we’ve set out to create an open, lighter, more airy, and more traditional design that checks all the boxes when it comes to more modern form and function while adding a little creative whimsy throughout.
Keep reading for a bit more about this fun and somewhat challenging project in progress.
The Ask
In 2022, after hearing about Bogart Interiors from word of mouth, the family reached out to us to help them breathe some new life into their beloved Wellesley home. We came into the project focused on the redesign of solely the family room (already revealed.). And while in the process, the client asked that we help with a larger more expanded design of the interior and exterior space. Partnering with Mike and The Bogart Finish team, the scope included:
Adding a room over the garage to create a home office for the husband, who is now working from home more often and needed his own dedicated space.
A complete overhaul of the kitchen to offer a better flow and more of a central gathering place for the family. We’ll combine the existing kitchen and dining room to make a new kitchen/piano room/sitting area. In addition, we will add more modern details throughout (aka some bells and whistles!)
Updating their outdated heating system. The house has a few different zones which have gone through a couple of iterations of updates. The result is a very inefficient system that does not properly support the family during a typical New England winter.
Redecorating the 2 kids' bedrooms and bathrooms.
Converting the formal living room into a dining room.
And finally, updating the primary bathroom, entryway, mudroom and second office space.
The Challenge
The overall challenge is working around some of the existing obstacles to create a better flow throughout the home. 3 main areas of concern are:
The outdated kitchen. The house is an old colonial with a kitchen that was built as an addition and it has been a bit of a mix of updates ever since. Resulting in a very outdated kitchen design, including the appliances, furnishing, and general flow. It has a little peninsula off the counter but it’s very small and not a comfortable gathering space. And due to an inefficient heating system, in the winter it is quite cold so it’s just not a comfortable space. It’s just not a comfortable space and far from being “the heart of the home” which the family desperately wants.
The piano. They have this old grand piano that has been one of the biggest challenges in terms of placement in this smaller house. When you walk into the house there is a front living room where the piano currently sits. It’s a beautiful family heirloom but where it is located obstructs the flow and leaves space for only a little loveseat in the room.
The fireplace. The home has a center chimney which limits the ability to create a seamless, more open flow across the living and dining room space.
The current living room space at Pine Plain Road.
The Solution
What we’ve done at this point is shifted the kitchen to their existing dining room opening up the space in between. This created an L-shaped space where the kitchen is on one end of the L and the corner of the other end of the L is a little comfortable kitchen seating area. We’ll add in 2 overstuffed armed chairs and a little ottoman in that space. It was important that we maintain a space for their piano. So at the other end of the L (where the old breakfast nook was) is going to be where the piano will be placed along with a built-in bar and beautiful wine fridge. We’ll be working with Scandia Kitchens for the counters and Granite Arts for the stonework.
With the grand piano out of the front living room that space will be transformed into the new dining room. The next order of business, to create more space, is to get rid of that center chimney that runs up through the center of the entire house. It’s a big job! Once we remove the chimney, we’ll replace it with a gas insert with a marble surround giving them the obeisance of a fireplace. Coupled with the beautiful mural wallpaper we have planned, it will make for a very cozy and comfortable dining room.
They will see some modern enhancements to the kitchen appliances including a Zip water faucet in their bar area (dispenses hot, cold, and seltzer out of the faucet), a steam shower in the primary bathroom, and a few other tricks up our sleeves!
And finally, we are adding two dormers to bump out the roof line over the garage in order to create that new office space.
Stay close to our IG page for updates and BTS on this exciting project with a full reveal coming in 2024.